"Why are you here?"
It was strange, Anduin thought, that Ruby seemed incapable of lowering her voice without it making her sound ready to kill you. It was the echo, it never changed. Nonetheless, he wouldn't change it for the world.
Luckily, Anduin had spent enough time around her that he could tell she wasn't so much angry, as she was frightened. That in and of itself was weird, Ruby didn't do frightened. He had once seen her chose to glare at Garrosh as half a ton of rubble came down on her head, and then show up a day later to butcher the Kor'kron holding him hostage.
"I got here on the ship, I'm sure Darion-"
"We'll deal with that, and if you knew about their plans-"
"I didn't, I would never go behind your back that way."
"Thank you. Then why are you here?"
"I wanted to see you."
"Why?"
"...Everyone's gone Ruby. You're all I have left."
"That's not true! What about Furion, Velen, Baine, Genn?"
"Malfurion went back to sleep, we don't know when he'll wake up. Velen has been busy trying to get the Exodar working. Baine has been busy leading the Tauren, and King Greymane has been busy rebuilding Gilneas."
He looked down, embarrassed to admit the next thing.
"Bolvar's dead, so is Aunt Jaina, Thrall and Father. You're all I had left Ruby, and you just disappeared without telling me."
"It's safe on Azeroth."
"Why, because the Legion can't get there? Just because the Horde and Alliance aren't actively fighting doesn't mean that there aren't problems. And were you planning on doing the whole 'child of Light and Shadow' thing by yourself?"
He saw her flinch back, her hand reaching for the spot on her forehead where the mark of Xe'ra manifested on the rare occasion the Naaru felt like speaking. Both because it had little strength, and channeling the being of pure Light for any period of time wrecked havoc on Ruby's body.
Anduin had once spoke to the Naaru prime, using Ruby as a proxy body, as it pushed him to continue on his training despite his injury and duties as the king of Stormwind. Now he was wondering if it had known he was going to reach Remnant. (He also made a note to ask Ruby about the prosthetics after he won this conversation.) The discussion couldn't have taken more than three minutes, but smoke had started to billow out of Ruby's mouth in seconds, and when the connection was cut, she'd dropped like a marionette with its strings cut.
"It's dangerous on Remnant."
"More dangerous than running around an unexplored continent in the middle of a war?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
Ruby gulped, and Anduin wondered, not for the first time, whether there would be a day she would stop pretending. It would be eerie, and slightly fascinating, to watch Ruby stand there, completely still.
"I'm here."
Anduin cocked an eyebrow, "Didn't you used to say the safest place in the world was right behind you?"
"That was before the trial."
"I won't end up like him."
That answered a question that had haunted Anduin for years, clearly Ruby was just as terrified of the duo as he had been, but she expressed it by caging herself off and avoiding anything that could cause them to become the two.
"No, it's," Ruby sighed, before reaching out and pulling his hair loose from the ponytail he wore it in, running her hand through it to let it flow out.
Ruby's jaw seemed to tighten as his hair settled, framing his face.
"You look so much like him at times… Both me and Varian wondered…"
"Who?"
"Arthas."
Anduin looked at her strangely, he had only been seven when the fallen prince died. Neither Ruby, Aunt Jaina, or his father spoke of him often.
It was strange because it was the one part of her "life" in the Scourge Ruby danced around. She had no problem monologuing about what she did in an attempt to disgust him on the rare occasion he made her angry enough.
On the even rarer, excepting when they traveled with Chen and Li Li, where it was pretty much common place, occasion that Ruby actually managed to consume enough high grade alcohol to get drunk, she would spin (bad) poetry about the death and destruction she left in her wake.
Anduin had long since accepted that the closest thing he could recall to a mother missed her days of indiscriminate slaughter more than she would admit to anyone, even herself.
Jaina, meanwhile, had often gotten into massive fights with Ruby, he could hear them from his room during the war, as she insisted that Ruby was proof that Arthas could be saved, and Ruby maintained that he was too far gone.
His father had raged about Arthas, his famous temper getting the better of him and leading to him howling about his best friend's betrayal, echoing through the halls of the castle and into the city.
"I look like Arthas?"
"You act like him too."
"Ruby-"
"I knew Arthas better than most people, Anduin, and I see so many of the things that drove him mad in you. I don't want to see you turn out like him."
"I'm not going to end up like him…"
"But what if you do? What if it's my fault? I'm not a good influence, I never was. I took care of you because I promised Bolvar I would keep an eye on you, but- Just, go back to the ship Anduin, I'll pay for a prosthetic, and then you can leave. I have a small house in the woods in Gilneas, it was still standing last I checked, you can have it. Live a long happy life, marry some pretty Draenei," Saw that one coming, "And let me just be a distant memory. Just a story you tell your children and grandchildren. You don't need me anymore, Anduin. You don't need a broken old attack dog to defend you now."
"But what if I want you?"
"You don't."
"But I do, I want to go back to when it was just you and me against the world. When you had us sleep on beds made from tree branches. I want to go back to when if we caught a rabbit we were eating well that night. When we walked for so long my feet blistered and you ended up carrying me, complaining the whole way."
Anduin stood up, and walked across the table, before pulling her into a hug.
"You're the closest thing I have to a mother, I don't want to lose you too."
Ruby's fingers dug into Anduin's back, "You and the Ebon Blade are all I have left. I burned bridges with Malfurion and Tyrande before I left, and nobody has seen Chen and Li Li for months. I just… I just want you to stay safe."
He would tell her that neither Malfurion nor Tyrande held it against her, and that Li Li and Chen had popped up shortly after she left later.
"And I can't think of a safer place on any world than with you, Mom."
Ruby seemed to freeze, before tightening her grip on him even harder.
"I don't want you to end up the same way as me Anduin."
"I won't, I've been practicing with the Light."
"That reminds me, there's something I had meant to give you. Give me a second to grab it off Acherus?"
"Of course."
Anduin sat patiently as Ruby walked into the Death Gate. When she walked back out, the gate seemed to flicker, like it was protesting whatever she brought through.
"Close your eyes?"
Anduin did so, and felt a weight settle on his shoulders. Opening his eyes, he looked down at the blue mantle enveloping him. It was strangely warm.
"I took that from Uther's grave years ago, when I took his hammer. It doesn't deserve to lie in the corner of some room in an unholy place. I want you to have it."
"Ruby-"
Anduin couldn't find words to articulate how big this was. Everyone knew that Ruby horded anything to do with Uther with an almost fanatical zeal. It had been her willingly giving up Uther's hammer for a chance to bring Tirion back that had driven home how desperate she was. For her to willingly give up something as big as this was…
"I- I can't."
"Take it, it's better off with you than it is with me."
Anduin sent silent, before tackling Ruby into a hug.
"I'm not going anywhere. We'll get that prosthetic, and then I'm going to train how to fight."
Slowly, haltingly, Ruby wrapped her arms around him.
"Ok."
They could have stayed like that for an eternity, but Ruby was called to a meeting with the teachers.
-X Line Break X-
Jaune looked around at the assembled teachers, everyone was there, even Ruby had just walked in.
"Ms. Rose, how is Ms. Belladonna?
"Still hasn't woken up, but the doctors say she should soon. Why am I here? This looks to be a meeting between the teachers of Beacon and Jaune Arc."
"You are, technically, a teacher of Beacon, you are also supposed to be in charge of training his team, though I can understand you shirking some of your responsibilities as more come up."
Ruby nodded, before settling against a wall, Jaune had noticed she didn't like to sit unless she was certain nothing would happen.
"Mr. Arc, Jaune. Evidence has come to light that points to you faking your transcripts."
Crap.
"What- what do you mean?"
"There are no records of your transcripts or that you were there at all, from Oasis."
Jaune sighed, looks like the gig was up.
"Yes, I faked my transcripts."
Jaune looked around, all the teachers were looking at him in varying states of shock and anger, and then there was Ruby. Her face was twisted into a sneer as she looked at him.
"Mr. Arc, you do know that this is a punishable offence? There are laws against sneaking into a Academy."
"I… I just want to help people. Is that wrong?"
"Jaune, who's in charge if both Ozpin and Goodwitch are incapacitated or dead?"
Jaune looked at Ruby when she asked the question. What did that have to do with helping people?
"Well?"
Pyrrha and him hadn't gone over this, they had been training on how to fight.
"I don't know."
"Where are the three primary shelters for Grimm attacks?"
"I don't know."
The teachers seemed to grow more agitated.
"Jaune, there's a reason we go to primary combat schools, to learn these things. It takes more than a bit of fancy footwork to be a Huntsman. And you're not the best at fighting as is, even if you are getting better."
Jaune stayed quiet, looking at his feet. He wanted to be like his sisters, was that so much?
"Jaune, did you have your Aura unlocked when you came to Beacon?"
Jaune shook his head.
"When did it get unlocked?"
"In the forest, by Pyrrha."
"How did you survive landing?"
"Pyrrha caught me."
Silence seemed to stretch out.
"Did you ever think about what would have happened if she hadn't? You were falling from over a hundred feet up."
"No?"
"I've seen the end result of that Jaune, it isn't pretty. And what if you had been attacked by Grimm before Pyrrha found out you didn't have your Aura unlocked? First day alone, and you could have died twice."
"But Pyrrha was there!"
"You can't keep clinging to her as a crutch, one day she might die, or team JNPR might split up."
Jaune kept his head down as tears pricked his eyes.
"And you, there's no way you didn't know about this, so why did you let him in?"
"I felt it was a calculated risk."
Silence stretched between the two, before Ruby broke it.
"I'm the last person to reprimand you on this, so I'll give you a warning instead. You're playing a dangerous game. Too many times have I seen men and women take 'calculated risks' and have it end badly Ambroise Ozpin. Do your best not to end up the same."
"Didn't you just say that you had no room to judge me?"
"I'm not judging you, merely warning you that it get's easier to justify things as calculated risks the more you do so."
"Thank you for your advice Highlord Rose, but we are not here about me."
Suddenly every eye was on him again.
"What do we do?" asked Oobleck.
"He meant well, I say we give the boy a chance," there was Port.
"Yes, but there are laws against this sort of thing for a reason Peter." Peach.
They went around in circles, arguing for or against him. Finally Professor Ozpin spoke out.
"Highlord Rose, your opinion?"
"Mak'Gora."
"You'll have to explain, I don't know the term."
"Trial by combat. He'll train over the break with a single weapon, not Crocea Mors, but an unnamed weapon, new, with no history, just like him. At the end of the break, he will duel a representative of Beacon who will also use one weapon. No armor, no Semblance. They'll fight until only one is conscious."
"And what happens if he wins?"
"If he wins he'll be sent to Signal, to learn from the beginning. It is the kindest we can do, he isn't ready for Beacon. Not with his current lack of knowledge."
"And if he losses?"
"He'll be blacklisted from every Academy on Remnant."
"That seems a bit much, we are to expect him to learn how to use a weapon well enough to beat someone from Beacon in a month?"
"He was convinced that he could catch up to the students of Beacon. Let him prove it."
"Considering the other option is time in jail, I think that is more than fair." Ozpin threw out his opinion.
Jaune tried to keep his breath stable, blacklisted? He would never be a Huntsman then.
"Who will train him?"
"He'll find his own."
"And Team JNPR?"
"Put someone else in charge."
"Jaune, do you understand the chance we are giving you?"
"Yes."
"Be thankful, this could have ended a lot worse for you."
"Hand over the sword Jaune, I'll give it back when this is over, one way or another."
Taking his family's sword from his hip, he handed it to Ruby.
"Who knows, maybe you'll find a weapon you prefer."
"Yeah, maybe."
Jaune made it to the elevator before the tears of frustration came. He had a month to get a new weapon, figure it out how to use it, and be ready for a fight against someone who almost certainly had more experience than him.
It felt all the world like Ruby had hung him out to dry.
-X LINE BREAK X-
"Therefore, we have reached out to the Atlas Council and together have decided that the best action is to appoint General Ironwood as head of security for the event."
Ruby leaned back in the chair, waiting for this to be over with.
The council had insisted she be here for this meeting, apparently. She was going to have a talk with Ozpin about the fact that he kept springing stuff like this on her. Also on her to-do list was haggle out some money from him. If she was part of the school enough to be involved with the meeting with Jaune, she was part of the school enough to get payed. That was money she could put towards Anduin!
"Highlord, we expect your forces to assist him."
The laugh was halfway out of her mouth when she realized he was serious.
"What?"
"We wish for you to assist with the security for the Vytal festival. In the last two weeks alone, your 'Knights of the Ebon Blade' have been instrumental in stopping two potentially disastrous attacks on Vale."
"You want us, the group who is were formerly attack dogs for a man dedicated to seeing the whole world enslaved to his will, to help with security for a public event? You do realize that most of us only have one real nonlethal option, and that consists of choking the poor sod out?"
"Yes, and that is exactly why we want you on this."
"Why?"
"There was evidence of explosives at the hole, Highlord, somebody let the Grimm in, we suspect that whoever did it is either the same person who attempt attempted to sneak into the CCT Tower or is associated with them. They have used two of parts of the Vytal Festival for their terrorist acts. Acts that, as we said, your order played a major role in halting. It is not too much to assume that they will attempt to use the Tournament for a third. If they do, we want you there to help stop them."
"And you can't just cancel the festival, people are scared, so they'll be looking to the Huntsmen and the Council for cues. If we cancel the Vytal festival, it makes us look scared. So all we can do is hunt them down over the next month while the damage is repaired, and be ready for their next attack if that doesn't work."
"Exactly. You're pretty good at this."
"I know how people like this think, I was one for years."
"Which is why we need you."
"Fine, we'll help. But I have other things I need to work on first."
"Of course."
Opening a Death Gate, to where she knew Darion was.
"Has he spoken yet?"
"No."
"Looks like I'm going to have to work my magic."
"Try not to be too loud."
"I make no promises."
As the door swung shut behind her, Ruby picked up a knife from the tray.
"My name is Ruby Rose."
"We… Know… Who… You.. Are… My… Queen…"
"Yes, well, We'll be getting to know each other rather well."
A vial of Holy water was splashed upon the blade, causing it to glow slightly.
"The… King… Wants… You… Back…"
"That's nice. Now, you aren't allowed to talk unless your answering my questions. How is Arthas still around?"
"Join… Him… This… World… Will… Be… His… Wedding… Gift… To… You…"
Ruby sighed, before running the blade down his chest, she would have preferred his arms, but Darion had taken them. Where the blade cut angry red welts appeared.
"We can do this all day."
"I… Won't… Speak… My… Life… For… The… White… Fang…"
"So it has something to do with the Fang, that information will be helpful."
"You… Can… Only… Do… This… For… So… Long…"
"I don't need long, Kel'thuzad taught me well."
"He… Loved… You…"
The blade impaled at the stump of his shoulder, and Ruby growled out the next words.
"Arthas never loved anyone other than himself."
"Believe… What... You… Will… My… Queen… He… Waits… For… You…"
"Let me make this clear. This will not be quick, it will not be painless, you will beg by the time I am done with you."
"If... That… Is… What… You… Desire… My… Queen…
Then Ruby started on her grisly tapestry.
-X LINE BREAK X-
Blake looked down at the crashing waves. The spirit of the Dream lounged next to her in the form of a massive panther. They were in the Emerald Dream, looking down at its equivalent of Atlas's inland sea.
"Why are we here, Shan'do?"
It seemed right to refer to the being as such, perhaps because she had been learning from Malfurion's journal, and that was how he referred to Cenarius.
Look, and you'll find it eventually. You are supposed to be the Guardian of the Dream.
Looking out over the vast expanse of water, Blake couldn't help the spike of annoyance at her mentor.
There was so much water, and the wisps that inhabited the dream floated over it, surging for one place.
Wait.
Peering through the swarm of wisps, Blake quickly saw what they were here for.
A massive tentacle burst from the water, ending in a fang-like hook. Groping blindly for one of the islands, the water around it was a sickly black and red sludge.
Each time the tentacle started to find purchase on one of the islands, the wisps would ram into it with explosive force sending it flying back into the water.
"What is that?"
An abomination, searching for a way into the Dreaming, to corrupt it.
Blake barred her teeth as a rush of possessiveness ran through her. The Dream was hers, not whatever that thing was.
"How do I get rid of it?"
Sever its link.
"How?"
That, is something for you to figure out.
Stretching out, the panther walked away fading out of existence.
Blake looked at the tendral. How was she supposed to get rid of it? What was the damn thing?
It couldn't hurt to ask Ruby if she knew anything about it. Looks like she would have to wake up.
Pushing herself up, Blake stepped out of her bed, heading towards the door.
"Blake?"
"Hey, Yang. Have you seen Ruby?"
"No. Uh, what's up with your eyes?"
"What do you mean?"
"They're kind of," Yang gestured at her own face, "Closed."
"Huh?"
Bringing her hand up to her eyes, she felt the flesh of her eyelids over them.
"Green Dragons are like that! It's weird!"
Yang blinked and Blake… kind of scrunched up the area around her eyes, she couldn't seem to open them.
The little blue dragon that had been with Ruby was fluttering next to them.
"Like what?"
"They never open their eyes! Mama says they can still see though."
"Do you know where your, uh, 'Mama' is?"
The little dragon seemed to vibrate in place, nodding up and down. Blake… well, she didn't share a look with Yang, she couldn't, but she tried her hardest. Suddenly it made a lot of sense that Ruby didn't seem to show emotion much, it was hard to show emotion without complete use of your eyes.
"Yeah! She's on that big floating thing she never let's me on!"
"Acherus, Emmigosa."
"Anduin!"
Blake "blinked" again, as the dragon disappeared in a blur of blue, latching onto the man who limped around the corner.
Throwing a weary smile that didn't quite reach his blue eyes their way, he allowed the dragon to drape itself across his shoulders.
"Kin-" he paused, before restarting, "Anduin Wrynn, and might I ask your names?"
"Blake Belladonna."
"Yang Xiao Long."
A spark of recognition flickered in his eye, "Ruby's sister?"
"Uh- Yes?"
"Ah, It's nice to finally put a face to a name."
"Ruby mentioned me?"
"On occasion."
"Right, you said Ruby was on Acherus?"
"Yeah, but I wouldn't suggest going to find her."
"Why?"
""I'm pretty sure she's 'playing' with her new 'toy'."
"What?"
"She's torturing some poor bastard until he starts singing I am a Murloc in Nerglish."
Blake's eyes would have snapped open, if they were still capable of such.
"What! But I still have another month!"
"Apparently he said something that has both Ruby and Darion spooked, so I think they're making an exception'
"I'm going to talk to her about this."
-X LINE BREAK X-
"I'm getting bored of this, Aggra, be a dear and get me Apocalypse would you?"
The Orc shuffled off, her moted grey skin flaking slightly.
"Such a loyal squire."
"You didn't really give her a choice Deathlord, you and our King essentially lobotomized her of any free will she had."
"It will be all the more satisfying when we go back to that village and have her lead the charge to butcher it."
"So we aren't actually going to let them survive?"
Ruby laughed, "Of course not Redbrand, I'm just letting them wallow in their fear until we slaughter them like the pigs they are."
"Mistress, your sword."
"Thank you."
As Ruby took up the unholy sword, felt her runic tattoos light up, concealed by her armor. A miasma started to gather around her feet.
"I'll admit, they're tenacious, holding out for three days against the might of the Scourge, but it's time to put this game!"
The Runes along Apocalypse blazed, and the miasma grew.
"Death to the living!"
Thrusting her sword forward, the miasma lunged after it, smashing into the walls of the fort and rising over them.
"Leave the leader alive, he may have information we need!"
"Deathlord, who are you speaking to?"
His question was answered when the doors opened, and a group of undead dragged an Orc wearing a wolf head to the front.,
"Oh, boy, a new toy," leaning down, Ruby looked at him, "What's your name?"
When he didn't answer Ruby sighed, looking over at her squire she spoke.
"Third from the thumb, left side."
Aggra took out a knife as the undead holding him hyperflexed his arm.
"You'll talk eventually. By the time we are done with you, you'll think that you always served the Scourge, just like Aggra here."
Turning to Aggra, she spoke.
"Do it outside Honor Hold, I want them to know what fate is coming for them."
"Yes, Deathlord."
She watched as he was dragged away.
"They'll know we're coming for them, Deathlord."
"Good, Illidan is doing something and I haven't had a decent fight recently."
-X LINE BREAK X-
"Aggra's dead."
"Yeah, I killed her."
"No, I mean she's dead again." Pitwick deadpanned, wondering if his boss was being deliberately obtuse.
"How'd that happen?"
"Apparently the Sons of Lothar got sick of hearing the screams after the first hour. They shipped her back to us in a box."
"Well that was nice of them, I might actually make their deaths painle-"
"Alongside a bomb, we lost twenty geists."
"Blackneedle, take this down, we're feeding their leader his second in command's arm."
"Yes, Deathlord."
"What else do we have?"
"We're going to have to write off Shattrath, we're not making any progress and anyone that gets near it is destroyed by blasts of light."
"I'll talk to Arthas, continue."
"We are having more skirmishes with the Naga."
"Are they stopping our attempts to poison the water?"
"No."
"Minor problem, next."
"Stormrage is back."
"Illidan's back!?"
The Deathlord snapped up from where she had been lounging on the throne of Saronite at the heart of Avernus.
"Deathlord-"
"I'm going to go fight him!"
"You can't keep doing this-"
"We need to eliminate the Illidari, might as well cut the head off the snake!"
"You just want to go see your lover."
"He's not my lover!" She threw over her shoulder, marching away.
"You had me fooled."
Sighing, he pulled out the enchanted crystal they used to communicate.
"Redbrand, grab a couple Vrykul and meet me at the stables, the Deathlord ran off after Stormrage again."
A snort came from the other end, "I'm still wondering how the Lich King is taking the fact that his mistress is seeing another man."
"She claims she isn't. Also don't let you hear her say that, you remember the last person who said she was the Lich King's mistress."
"I don't get that, she makes no attempt to hide their relationship, she actively calls herself his queen, but gets angry when someone calls her his mistress."
"I think it's because she isn't his queen, she is just his mistress, and being reminded of the fact that the Lich King hasn't claimed her as such angers her. She thinks he still cares too much about Proudmoore."
"She's mad."
"She betrayed the world for the man, were you expecting sanity?"
"...If she did."
"What do you mean?"
"Nobody knows what happened in the throne room that day Blackneedle. All we know is that she went in, and she came out half an hour later as a Death Knight."
"The Lich King claims-"
"Yeah, 'claims.' I met Ruby Rose before this, if she was secretly plotting to end the world, she has the best damn poker face the world has ever seen. Seeing as she apparently managed to convince Terenas, Uther, and Alexandros that she was a kind hearted girl."
"So what you think that-"
"She went in there, fought him, died, and got raised? Yes. He's done it before. Can you imagine Alexandros Mograine, the Ashbringer himself, loyally serving the Scourge in life?"
"Point."
"Whatever, there's nothing we can do about it, it's just go after the damn woman.
-X Line Break -
"Illidan!"
Vandel and Kayn, shared a look, before glancing down the side of Karabor.
"It's your turn to go stop him."
"I did it last time!"
"Yes, but I'm your leader, so I'm telling you to go do it."
"You two took too long, they're already at it again." Kor'vas spoke, looking over the side.
Looking back down, the two demon hunters confirmed that yes, their lord was indeed rolling around on the fel corrupted ground of Shadowmoon valley with the Scourge leader. They hadn't even pulled out weapons.
"By Elune's Light, how many times are they going to do this!"
"Fifth time since they showed up."
"Do we just sit here or-"
"Ereseeker got torn to pieces for getting in their way last time, we're still finding chunks of him, do you want to risk it?"
"No."
"That's what I thought."
…
"Did she just tear off a chunk of his arm with her teeth?"
"Yeah."
"...Those two are fucked up."
"Really!? Any other observations you want to make?"
"No."
…
"Oh, my, what is this?"
"They're either trying to kill each other, or having the roughest foreplay in the universe."
"That isn't true, there was one world we invaded when I served the Legion-"
"I'm going to stop you right there, I really don't want to know Matron Mother."
"You never let me finish my stories, Vandel, dear.
"That's because they're normally completely disgusting, and I tore out my eyes after watching the Legion pillage countless worlds."
…
"Ok, how long are they going to go at this."
"Demons need to cause pain, so do undead, realistically, so long as one of them doesn't die they could do this forever."
"So, somebody is going to have to stop them?"
"Yes."
"Damnit."
-X Line Break X-
Halt.
The explosion of light forced the two of them apart, as a giant floating sigel descended. Ruby felt her skin flake.
"Who the hell are you?"
Xe'ra
"What the hell do you want, we were kind of in the middle of something."
I must speak to you.
"Unless it consists of you surrendering Shattrath to me, I really don't care."
Be silent Death Knight, I come carrying a message of both of your fates.
"If I don't surrender I'll die, the Light will wipe my unholy form from this plane of existence, yadda, yadda, yadda-"
Her eyes blazed like bonfires, the Silver flames burned away the Demons, unmaking them, banishing them to the Nether.
A green dragon swept its claws through the mass. Overhead, a trio of dragons, Blue, Black, and Bronze, rained their elements from above.
A High Elf stood atop a crag, arrows glowing with Light launched into the heart of the tide and exploding. Any demon that got to close was struck down by a man with a broken sword, Light radiating from his armor.
A Nathrezim, skin chalk white and wings aglow with Light met one of his brothers on the field of battle.
A man fought off to the side, a pair of sword radiating Light smashed together into one impaling a demon who came too close, the blue mantle flowing in the wind.
The ****** of the **** ****** stood beside her, helping the army, a complete antithesis to what they had been created as. At their head stood her second in command. A blade most holy swung through the demons, leaving naught but ashes in it's wake.
Someone else should have been here, but he couldn't for he was dead. This had been his goal. The least she could do was see it through with his students.
Ruby took a step back, gasping for air… Why had she done that?
Illidan's face had gone impassive, as he looked between her and the Naaru.
"I see… do they at least regard me for what I was."
Yes.
He closed his eyes, "Very well."
"What was that!? I was around Light! That shouldn't have worked!"
I have seen this. Whatever you were, whatever you are, a champion of Light is what you will be.
"News flash, you overgrown wind chime, I'm undead, Light doesn't like me."
There was little chance you would accept it today, while you are under his thrall. So we shall leave you with a reminder.
"What-"
It was like someone dug a hot knife into her forehead, carving something there. Ruby had started to claw at her face as the pain burned. It was too much. It Was Too Much. IT WAS TOO MUCH!
Suddenly it was gone, and when she looked up, Illidan was leaning over her.
"What just happened."
"I don't know."
He was lying. She knew that.
-X Line Break X-
